![\"Fox](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Gordon_DW_Joy_097-e1479851735484.jpg?resize=625%2C497\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Four-time champion and FOX NASCAR analyst Jeff Gordon wrapped his first season in the television booth in 2016 following retirement from full-time driving. Below, he discusses his inaugural season as a broadcaster and what he learned from above the race track.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re amidst a national tour promoting your new book, Jeff Gordon: His Dream, Drive & Destiny<\/em> (available nationally Nov. 22). What was the most challenging part of the book for you to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe reveal some things that are definitely a little controversial, whether it be my divorce or talking about my parents\u2019 separation, as well as the relationship between Jimmie Johnson and I and although I\u2019m a huge supporter of his and friend of his, how that has been challenged over time, as well as the separation with Ray (Evernham) when he left the team. It hasn\u2019t always been great, perfect and happy times, and it was tough to tell myself that if I\u2019m going to write a book, I want it to be done in a way that shows who I truly I am and the things I went through and not hold back. I think Joe Garner did an excellent job of pulling that out of me, although it was hard at times.\u201d<\/p>\n How would you grade yourself on your first year in the FOX NASCAR booth?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d give myself a B. I really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun and thought Mike (Joy) and DW and Larry (McReynolds) really welcomed me, which made me feel comfortable and helped me adapt and learn and enjoy it that much more. I\u2019m someone who likes to strive for more. I thought it went well, and based on reaction I\u2019d gotten from fans and other people I respect in the sport, I\u2019m happy that they seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. I say a B because I was very nervous and had a lot to learn this year. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing how it goes next year because I feel I can improve each time I\u2019m in the booth.\u201d<\/p>\n Is there anything in particular you plan to work on in the booth next year \u2013 perhaps a weakness you\u2019ve zeroed in on?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cA lot of it is having natural pauses in your speaking and making sure you\u2019re not saying, \u2018um\u2019 and \u2018ah\u2019 and adding \u2018fill\u2019 words. Just add to the conversation when it\u2019s necessary and natural to add, as opposed to getting into the mode of talking because I think it\u2019s my time to talk. I don\u2019t need to do that because Mike Joy is amazing at what he does, and DW is amazing at what he adds. So, I just need to be as good as I can be at adding what I think is important or interesting or what I\u2019m capable of doing and not trying to do more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n Did you watch FOX races back this season of which you were a part?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI watched a couple back at the beginning of the year, and I\u2019m definitely my strongest critic, whether it be hearing my voice or things I say. I think it was good (to do), but at the same time, I feel like I\u2019m pretty good at naturally analyzing immediately after the race whether I should have done something differently or what went well or what I should do more of.\u201d<\/p>\n You said you didn\u2019t watch many of the FOX races back of which you were a part. When FOX concluded its portion of the season, was it strange to watch races on TV from home for the first time?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThat was so odd just sitting at home watching a race from my couch on a Sunday. That was the first time I\u2019d done that since 1992. That was almost like an out-of-body experience. It was really an out-of-body experience when I then had to climb back in the car, out of the car (to substitute for Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n Interview and photo courtesy of FOX Sports.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Four-time champion and FOX NASCAR analyst Jeff Gordon wrapped his first season in the television booth in 2016 following retirement from full-time driving. Below, he discusses his inaugural season as a broadcaster and what he learned from above the race track. You\u2019re amidst a national tour promoting your new book, Jeff Gordon: His Dream, Drive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[301,16],"class_list":["post-7098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-jeff-gordon","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Gordon_DW_Joy_097-e1479851735484.jpg?fit=625%2C497&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-1Qu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7098"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7101,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7098\/revisions\/7101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}